Nowadays, social media is being consumed by millions of people every day. Since the rise of social media, businesses have taken advantage of the multiple platforms for their own benefit. The three most important keys for using social media in business communication are customer engagement, reputation management, and customer service/support.

Customer engagement is important for businesses because it shows interest in the company page and social media algorithms promote posts with higher engagement percentages. Engagement can lead to a post going viral or trending which can allure new customers to the business.

Reputation management is also important for business communication because if a company has a bad reputation, people are not likely to give them their business. If there is a crisis and media outlets pick up the story, it is important to offer an apology and respond swiftly to avoid further humiliation.

Customer service/support is necessary for business communication. Many companies are able to be rated and reviewed by anyone on the internet. Bad experiences and reviews can negatively impact a business so responding to those reviews and offering solutions to some problems can help. If there are any questions raised, there should be a social media team dedicated to responding and helping customers.

After viewing the Communication in the 21st Century: Is It What You Say, Not How You Say It?, Vivian Ta explains the importance of verbal and non-verbal communication. Since technology has evolved so quickly over the last few decades, humans now increasingly communicate via the internet rather than in person. The internet has opened up many channels to communicate to people around the world instantly. Since the majority of media is read through text, it is more important to pick your words carefully since the face to face interaction is non-existent. People can interpret text in many different ways because there is no personality behind the words and if it is interpreted in the wrong way, it can be dangerous. The more clear you write, the less room for interpretation there will be.

After viewing The psychology of communicating effectively in a digital world, the three principles I found most important were to do what you said you would do, be liberal with compliments, and to treat every text based communication as you would a face-to-face conversation.

Doing what you said you would do is something that is so simple yet many companies and individuals have a hard time following. The need to match expectations is crucial so that the customer or employers do not begin to panic and gain mistrust. This is especially important in business writing because it is important to have the audience trust what you have to say and believe.

Being liberal with compliments allows other people’s dopamine levels to increase and they will think about you in a positive light. The compliments must be genuine and sincere because people do not like fake compliments just for the purpose of sucking up to them. This is important in business writing because many subordinates might give their superiors lots of compliments even though it is not sincere and their boss might not like that.

Treating every text based communication as you would a face-to-face conversation is important because people interpret text differently. Since the internet, communication via text happens in an instant causing people not to think about what they are saying. It is important to take your time and put on a filter that makes you text as though you were right in front of the other person. As you take your time to reply, it is important not to leave the other person waiting for too long because in a face-to-face conversation that won’t happen. This is important in business writing because communication with other businesses or personnel via text is essential. All emails and texts are tracked so it is important to always be respectful and professional with all communication.

After watching Linguistics, Style, and Writing in the 21^st Century – with Steven Pinker, there were many takeaways that I have received from this talk. The three that I found best were classic style, active voice, and show a draft to yourself after some time has passed.

Classic style has the model of prose as a window onto the world. This means that the writer has seen something in the world and positions the reader so he/she can see it with their own eyes. In classic style, the reader and writer are equals and the goal is to help the reader see objective reality. This is very useful in business writing especially in a pitch. The writer has a vision for a product or service and they need to persuade the readers to see the value that the writers see which will then give them the confidence to invest.  

The active voice is more direct and vigorous than the passive. A passive voice can be vague and boring whereas an active voice has better flow and is more succinct. An active voice can be used in business writing as the writer should be able to introduce ideas and other information to the reader in a clear and concise manner.

Showing a draft to yourself after some time has passed is a great point as it allows the writer to come back with a fresh perspective. It can be helpful to take a break from writing especially if the document is very long in case there are any errors that were not noticed previously. It also allows for new thoughts to formulate once coming back with a clear head. This can be useful in business writing as the writer is expected to not have any grammatical errors and the concepts should be clear.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.